Bankruptcy vs IRS Offer in Compromise

If you have a large amount of other debt besides just tax debt, bankruptcy may be an option you end up considering. Is this the right thing to do when you have tax liabilities?

For some people, bankruptcy can be the right way to go. While bankruptcy will not erase most tax debt, the bankruptcy court determines what you pay each creditor, and may remove some of the penalties and interest, depending on the case.

The interest rate that the IRS charges, to be honest, isn’t that bad. The rate is adjusted several times per year, and it currently sits at 4%. What kills people are actually the penalties. It is not uncommon for our clients to max out all their penalties, which tacks on a whopping 45.5% to their principal, and THEN interest accrues on the whole thing.

To determine whether bankruptcy is the best route for you, you’d have to consult with a bankruptcy attorney, as I am not a lawyer and cannot provide any sort of legal advice. If *all* you have is IRS debt, and don’t have significant other creditors and/or don’t want the bad credit associated with bankruptcy, but you cannot otherwise go on a monthly payment plan, then I would encourage you to consider an Offer in Compromise with the IRS. It’s a good non-bankruptcy alternative for folks that might otherwise have no other choice but to file Chapter 7, but would only be filing chapter 7 because of their IRS debt.

If you do choose to file for bankruptcy, it’s important to have a contingency plan for those taxes that cannot be discharged. For example, Trust Fund Recovery Penalty assessments, property taxes, and sales taxes will not generally be flushed in a Chapter 7. So, if your tax liability consists of those tax types, you need to be looking at other options.

Personal income taxes (1040 taxes) can be discharged in bankruptcy if they meet certain criteria. In general, income taxes must be at least three years old to be discharged in bankruptcy, and the tax return on those tax debts must have been filed at least two years ago. So, if you haven’t filed the actual tax returns that will incur the tax debt you want to discharge in bankruptcy, you’re going to have to file the returns and then wait two years.

Filing bankruptcy is obviously not a decision to be taken lightly, and you must consider the tax debt implications of doing so. However, bankruptcy isn’t nearly as bad of a thing to go through as many people think it is (and I’m talking from experience, by the way). Consult with both your tax professional and your bankruptcy attorney regarding this important decision.